Housing in Glasgow
Like many former industrial cities in Britain including Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, the city of Glasgow has also suffered at the hands of the economic change. Although it has a large collection of fine Victorian properties in the centre of town, clustered in an area called the West End, there are still ugly estates and parts of town nobody really wants to live in.
However, that being said, the city fathers have also had a good bash at redevelopment of the city via bricks and mortar as well as with culture. The lead project is the £1.7 billion plan to redevelop the Clyde River which flows westward out of Glasgow and into the Irish Sea. It is the kind of mega project which saw the transformation of the Docklands in London and the battered Brindley Place of Birmingham becoming top class places to live and work.
Glasgow is hoping it will work and create more than 33,000 jobs in the region, spur economic growth and put the city dock’s rundown past firmly behind it.
But of immediate interest to homebuyers is the development of 2,500 residential apartments in the Glasgow Harbour area down by the Clyde. The development – which includes bars and restaurants, as well as office space – is spread over 120 acres and the first flats went on the market in 2004.
Another top development on the Clyde is the Queen’s Dock 2 project which will see £350 million spent on creating a new entertainment complex right on the river. This will have a knock-on effect on the adjoining housing market on the Glasgow riverfront and might influence buyers thinking of the investment value of their properties.
However, Glasgow’s traditional top locations for homebuyers remain strong magnets with the city’s famous West End as the prime location for the upwardly mobile.
In the West End, made up of Hyndland and Dowanhill Park, a two bed would cost you £250,000 and a detached townhouse, of which there are very few on the market, would be £900,000.
For those unable to get into the West End, there are Bearsden and Milngavie just to the North which are also very popular with professionals. A two bed flat here is £150,000 and a good detached house would be £650,000. Similar areas with a nice suburban feel are spread across the South, namely Newton Mearns, Pollokshields, Giffnock and Newlands.
Judith Harper of FPD Savills says, however, that there are few new building developments in these areas and the number of good schools nearby means that a detached house can go for £650,000 despite being well out of the centre of town.
For people looking to leave the city entirely there are a few village and small town locations with decent transport links into Glasgow. Graham Forbes of Slater Hogg & Howison says that Kilmalcom and Thornton Hall are both very popular villages of the one or two pub and a parish church variety.
He says that many professionals start off in the West End of Glasgow and then “trade up” and move out to the outlying villages to the North of the city to enjoy the country life.
Overall, there appears to be a fairly healthy property market that will be greatly helped by the new developments on the Clyde. Although, if it is traditional Victorian housing that you are looking for, expect to pay a premium for the few properties that come on the market.
Glasgow does have plenty of ‘new builds’ outside the traditional professional suburbs and plenty of ex-Council run housing that have been renovated by ambitious owners. So, flat hunters should be easily catered for if they are willing to explore beyond the limits of the mainstream market.
Property Averages (all properties)
| Scotland average |
£98,200 |
| Glasgow average |
£103,999 |
| West End |
£218,069 |
| Newton Mearns |
£201,648 |
| Giffnock |
£272,769 |
| Newlands |
£133,226 |
| Milngavie |
£148,861 |
Source: Registers of Scotland, July 2004
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